Laundry appliance



H. A. STODDAR D Au w, 1937.

LAUNDRY APPLIANCE Filed April 10, 1956 I NVENT OR BY 1 0,

A RNE Y Patented Aug. 10, 1937 UNITED STATES LAUNDRY APPLIANCE Hart A.Stoddard, Westport, Conn.

Application April 10,

Claims.

This invention relates to laundry equipment, and, more particularly, towater-reservoirs of the capillary feed type as employed usually incommercial laundries for mo-istening clothes for 5 hand application Whenrequired to so-called wet spots as these are noted on articles beinglaundered by the attendant at a mangle or other ironing machine ordevice while such articles are being made ready for ironing or are beingironed.

Devices of this kind essentially include a container in which water isto be stored, and a cover for such container the purpose of which is tosupport a water absorbent element or sopper, this last capillarilymaintained wet or moist by a 15 fabric adjunct in the form of awick-means depending from the sopper and dipping into the water in thecontainer; such cover being removable to permit replenishment of thewater supply as and when required.

These containers are given a mounting such that they will be heldagainst accidental overturning, as spilled water in a commercial laundrymore often than not is more or less of a profitconsuming catastrophe;this mounting being such 25 that the container can be moved to and froma handy position near the ironing appliance.

[ To attain both these objectives, said devices are commonly carried bya ring support at the free end of a pivoted and substantially hori- 30zontal swing arm, so that the container and its carried parts can beswung out, from a hidden or out-of-the-way position, for wetting ormoistening of the spotting cloth when required.

Normally, however, the device is in its out-of-the- 35 way position,since space is at a premium in a commercial laundry. Said arm isgenerally pivotally mounted so as to be swung to move the device from anormal position under a table, shelf or the like, as one for supportinglaundered 40 articles, to a utilizable position beyond such table, andvice Versa. but during such swinging always to have the top of thecontainer at a height very close to the under surface of said table. Asa result of this last necessity or practice, carelessness 45 of theattendant often results in knocking loose the cover and the partscarried thereby, to wit, the wet sopper and its wet wick-means, from thecontainer. This happens when the attendant, after inadvertently leavingthe spotting cloth on 50 the sopper on the top of the container, swingsthe pivoted arm which supports the container to its hidden position.Then the edge of the table acts I as a wiper element to engage thespotting cloth, with the result that as the container is snapped 55 withits swinging mount under the table, the loose 1936, Serial No. 73,718

container top, the sopper and the wick-means are torn loose from thecontainer and fall to the floor. When this happens, the fabric parts aredirtied and rendered unfit for further use.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a container soconstituted as to include the essential elements above referred to, butone so constructed that the attendant can, inadvertently, ordeliberately and for greater convenience, leave the spotting cloth onthe top of the device, and yet any chance of an accidental breaking downof the device, such as just described, is absolutely avoided, when theswinging mount is thrust in under the table.

According to the present invention, this object is attained by providingthe cover as a substantially cylindrical cup telescoped substantiallywholly within, and resting by gravity on a rim or shoulder portion of, asubstantially cylindrical container, and by making such cup ofsufficient depth to accommodate the spotting cloth therein withoutprojection of other than negligible portions of the latter above the toprim of the cup; while securing the swinging mount to its pivot at such alevel, or shaping said mount in the direction of its extension betweensaid pivot and the portion thereof which carries the container, thatwhen the latter is swung in under the table the top mouth of the cup isat a height very close to the under surface of the table.

Further, in devices of the kind to which the present invention relates,frequent replenishment of the water in the container is required. Asaforesaid, this is accomplished by removal of the cover for thecontainer. Thus, since the sopper is secured at the upper surface of thecover, and the wick-means depends below the cover, a timeconsumingannoyance heretofore has been the difiiculty of properly yet quicklyentering the wick ends into the container incident to replacing thecover thereon following a replenishment of the water in the container.This has followed from the fact that the wick-means heretofore employedhas comprised a plurality of wicks, usually four, 90 apart, spacedaround the container top close to the periphery thereof. Such a largearray of individual wick elements, and their placement for limp danglingextremely near the peripheral points on the cover has been deemedessential to obtain proper capillary action and to maintain the centralpart of the sopper in a desired degree of wetness regardless of asteadily falling water level in the container.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a combined sopperand wick-means therefor which as a composite entity shall be simplerthan that above described, and shall be fabricable at a very low costand hence practicably frequently renewable, and which, at the same time,will not only avoid the cover replacement difficulty alluded to above,but will act with the required efficiency in maintaining the sopper in adesired degree of wetness regardless of varying water levels in thecontainer.

According to the invention, this object is attained by providing'merelya single substantially central hole in the bottom wall of the cupaforesaid, by providing a single substantially circular fabric sheet, ofone or plural ply thickness, as the sopper, and by providing a singlefabric wick-means in the form desirably of a looped fabric strip thecentral looped portion of which is suitably secured, preferably bystitching, to approximately the center of said sheet for dependence ofthe two lengths of such strip in mutually close dangling relation belowthe cup after protrusion downwardly through said hole.

Where a plurality of widely separated wick elements .are employed, ashas heretofore been deemed necessary in order to give even wetness tothe sopper, the very object thus in mind has been defeated. These wickelements have usually been the terminal lengths of strips of fabricmaterial the central portions of which are laid on the top of the coverbetween diametrically opposite slots near the periphery of the latter."When four such wick elements are employed, there are present twostrips, the central portions of which provide the sopper. These centralportions usually cross the top of the cover at right angles so as toprovide a cruciform sopper which is of two-ply thickness where thecentral lengths of the strips cross each other at the center of thecover, but which is elsewhere of single-ply thickness- In such anarrangement, further, the central portions of the two strips areapertured to clear loosely an upstanding knob at the center of the coverprovided for lifting away of the latter when water is to be replenishedin the container. As a result, the spotting cloth has to be applied toparts of the sopper within the annular space between the periphery ofthe cover and said knob, and further, usually, partially to the one-plydivergingly separating portions of the sopper and partially to thetwoply portion thereof immediately surrounding the knob. Thus, a givenpressure and time of contact of the spotting cloth against the soppercannot be depended upon always to give the intended degree of wetness tothe spotting cloth. Moreover, I have found that when a plurality ofwidely spaced wick elements are employed to serve the sopper, the objectin mind, e. g., an even wetting of the sopper, is hindered rather thanhelped; despite the fact that, in the hope of attaining this object, thedisadvantage is tolerated of having these wick elements very close tothe periphery of the cover. This last mentioned disadvantage, ashereinabove indicated, lies in the fact that with the wick elements thusarranged, it is troublesome and time-consuming to replace the cover onthe container each time the latter is refilled with water, which refillsmust occur at fairly frequent intervals. With such a wick arrangement,it is difficult to maintain the wick elements of equal lengths as theydepend from the cover at different points around the periphery of thelatter, with the result that when the water level falls sufficiently inthe container, one or more of said wick elements may be capillarilyidle.

The invention will be more clearly understood, and the above and otheradvantages thereof will be appreciated, from the following descriptionof a now preferred but merely an exemplifying embodiment of theinvention as shown in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure l is a top plan view thereof, partially broken away; and

Fig. 2 is an section.

Referring to the drawing in detail, the container is indicated at 5, thecover at 6, the sopper at l, and the wick-means at 8.

The container 5, wherein a supply of water is indicated at W, is shownas having a plane horizontal bottom wall 5a, a cylindrical side wall 5band an outwardly extending flange tic running all. around the top of thewall 5a to provide at its upper limit an annular seat surrounding theupper end or mouth of the container.

The cover 6 is not a mere disk, but, on the contrary, is itself also atrue container in the form of an open topped cup. As shown, thiselement, herein called the cover, has a plane horizontal bottom wall Ba,a cylindrical side wall 6b, and an outwardly extending flange do runningall around the top of the wall ta to provide at its upper limit anannular extension for resting on the annular seat provided by the flange5c of the container.

Thus, when the parts are assembled as shown best in Fig. 2, the cover 6rests on the container 5 merely by gravity, but with the receptacle partof the cover telescoped within the receptacle part of the container. Theouter diameter of the flange 6c of the cover is slightly greater thanthe outer diameter of the flange 5c of the container, so that, even ifthe cover happens to be centered Within the container as illustrated,the cover is instantly removable from the container by lifting, uponapplying finger pressures against the two flanges spanningly of the topof the device.

The sopper l is shown as a circular piece of suitable fabric, as amedium-weight terry cloth,

of uniform thickness all over and laid flat against the horizontal uppersurface on the bottom wall 6a of the cover.

Said wall, centrally thereof, is provided with a round hole M; whichhole is for the accommodation of a connection of the sopper with thewick-means 8.

Such connection is, as here illustrated, made by way of a circular lineof machine stitching 9. Thereby, at the center of the circular sopper, acircular area of the wick-means 8 is laid in capillarily operativecontiguity with a circular area of the sopper, the boundary of whicharea is concentric with the periphery of the sopper. Thus, all waterelevated by the single wick-means from the water collection 9 will bedelivered to the sopper centrally thereof and in such manner as toinsure uniform water dispersion radially of the sopper all around thesame so as always to maintain the sopper uniformly moist all over.

The wick-means 8 is shown as in the form of a single strip of fabric, asa medium-weight terry cloth. This single wick element is at the centerof its area stitched, as just above described, to the sopper, so as topresent two wick lengths depending below the bottom of the coverv 6, ata central point on such bottom, whilethe sopper lies on the uppersurface of the wall 6a of the cover.

When the parts are assembled as shown in Fig. 2, the wick-means 8 willestablish itself in some such way as there illustrated. Regardless,however, of how the wick-means settles itself in the water collection W,the supply of water to the sopper will always be the same; and this willalso be true, regardless of how far the water level falls, up to thepoint where any part of the wick element can continue to take up therequired amount of water.

When the water collection W falls so much that replenishment thereof isrequired, the cover is merely lifted up and away as described; and assoon as the container has again been supplied with water, the cover isalways easily and instantaneously replaced, due to the generallyvertical dangling of the wick-means below the center of the sopper.

When the spotting cloth (not shown) is accidentally or deliberately lefton the sopper, such cloth will be substantially wholly housed in thereceptacle part of the cover, so that no accidental engagement of suchcloth or any part thereof with another object can possibly result inknocking loose the cover and its carried sopper and wickmeans.

When replacement of the sopper and. wick means is desired, the entityincluding these elements is removed from the cover merely by manuallyrufliing and grasping the sopper, and pulling the same upwardly, thewick-means then being drawn up through and free of the hole lid in thebottom of the cover. The substitute entity, preferably such in order toinsure that the stitching together of the sopper and the wick-means canbe performed with maximum convenience and minimum cost, is mounted onthe cover merely by first pulling the two lengths of the wick-meansdownwardly through said hole 6d, and then patting the sopper down fiat.

Variations and modifications may be made within the scope of thisinvention, and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

I claim:

1, In a device of the kind described, the combination of an open toppedwater container; a cover therefor in the form of an open topped cup ofconsiderable depth and of a cross section to permit telescoping the cupdownwardly within the container; means partially carried by thecontainer and by the cup for allowing the cup to rest by gravity on thecontainer when thus telescoped therein, the cup being of less depth thanthe container whereby when the cup thus rests on the container thebottom of the cup is considerably above the bottom of the container; afabric sopper in the bottom of the cup of substantially uniformcapillary action all over; and a single wick secured to substantiallythe center of the sopper for dependence therebelow, the bottom wall ofthe cup having a substantially central hole therein below which saidwick depends.

2. A device as in claim 1, wherein said sopper is substantiallycircular, and said wick is a strip of fabric having a circular areathereof stitched to substantially the center of the sopper.

3. A device as in claim 1, wherein said sopper is substantiallycircular, and the wick-means is a strip of fabric secured at a.substantially central point to substantially a central point on thesopper, and wherein such securement is a substantially circular line ofstitching through the sopper and the wick, said line being substantiallyconcentric with the circular boundary of the sopper.

4. A device as in claim 1, wherein said means includes a ledge elementon the container near the top thereof and an engaging projection on thecup near the top thereof, whereby when the cup is telescoped within thecontainer the top of the cup is at substantially the same level as thetop of the container.

5. A device as in claim 1, wherein the wick is secured to the sopper bya single substantially circular line of stitching, and said hole issubstantially circular and of greater diameter than the diameter of saidline.

HART A. STODDARD.

